If you’ve had cancer but don’t feel quite back to normal, this is for you. 

It starts out like any other life lesson, with something quite ordinary. For me it was this.

You know that one kitchen tool you use all the time—the one that makes life just a little easier?

Mine was a doohickey called a jar key, for breaking the vacuum seal on jars. Was. Until it broke.

No big deal, right? Just order a new one. Except…I kept forgetting. 

Chemo brain and it’s BFF aromatase inhibitor brain took over, despite my best intentions.

Every time I struggled to open a jar, I’d think, Oh yeah, I need to order a new jarkey! 

Then—POOF—distraction. Life gets in the way. By the time I was at the computer, the thought would be long gone. And the cycle repeated for days.

Finally, a few days later, mid-battle with a stubborn jar of almond butter, I stopped. I put the jar down, took my phone out of my pocket, and ordered the damn thing. Finally! One quick order, done. In fact, I ordered a set of two.

And then it hit me—how often do we delay the one small action that could make life easier? 

We tell ourselves we’ll handle it later, then later never comes, either because we forget (like I did), or because the urgency of the problem fades a bit when we aren’t in the struggle and we shift our priorities. 

Sometimes “later” can be only a few seconds later, if we’re easily distracted by lack of sleep, worry, or medication side effects like chemo brain or brain fog from anti-estrogen treatment.

So the lesson I needed to learn was to stop and do it right then. 

And maybe you need to learn that lesson too.

So, what’s your “broken jar opener”? That thing you know would help, but you keep putting off?

Maybe it’s scheduling a doctor’s appointment you’ve been avoiding. 

Maybe it’s finally asking for support instead of trying to muscle through on your own. 

Or maybe it’s accepting that life after cancer isn’t just about “going back to normal”—because normal doesn’t look the same anymore.

If you’ve finished treatment but still don’t feel like YOU, that’s your broken jar opener. And the thing I’m going to suggest you do right now is take one small step toward fixing it.

Sign up for my workshop, You’re Done With Treatment. Now What? Stepping Into Your New Normal, happening Sunday, March 16. Because you don’t have to figure this out alone. 

Info and registration here:https://events.drjillrosenthal.com/whats-next.

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